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The Boston police cruiser just seconds before an explosive device blew up

The Boston Police Department bomb squad has been called in to investigate the attack.

Boston Police Commissioner William Evans described the incident as a “deliberate act”.

There was no immediate link to the inauguration events in Washington DC but US security services are on high alert across the country.

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The device was thrown under a Boston police cruiser

The attack comes two days after the Boston Globe reported that Jewish community centres across Massachusetts, Maine, and Connecticut received bomb threats.

Some organisations were evacuated as a precaution but inspections by authorities turned up nothing suspicious.

Robert Trestan, executive director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Boston office told the Globe: “Whoever is behind it is targeting Jewish institutions and trying to intimidate and threaten the community.”

Jeremy Burton, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, said: “There’s a real heightened level of fear and concern.

“These bomb threats are such low-hanging ways to create chaos and fear. The anxiety is quite palpable.”